Kijuro Shidehara

Kijuro Shidehara (13 September 1872-10 March 1951) was Prime Minister of Japan from 14 November 1930 to 10 March 1931 (interrupting Osachi Hamaguchi's terms) and again from 9 October 1945 to 22 May 1945, succeeding Naruhiko Higashikuni and preceding Shigeru Yoshida.

Biography
Kijuro Shidehara was born in Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture, Japan in 1872, and he graduated from Tokyo Imperial University before entering the Foreign Ministry. Shidehara's wife was a Quaker, and it was rumored that he was one as well. He served in the Japanese embassies in the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the United States before serving as ambassador to the Netherlands during World War I. In 1915, he was made Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he became ambassador to the United States in 1919, in which position he was Japan's leading negotiator for the Washington Naval Treaty. In 1924, he was rewarded with the position of Foreign Minister, and he attempted to maintain a non-interventionist stance toward China and good relations with Britain and the USA. His term as Foreign Minister was dominated by a liberal foreign policy, but he never aligned with a specific party, instead remaining independent throughout his career. In 1931, he became acting Prime Minister after Osachi Hamaguchi was seriously wounded during an assassination attempt, only to step aside for Hamaguchi to return. After the Invasion of Manchuria in 1931, his career as Foreign Minister ended. From 1931 to 1945, he was a member of the House of Peers, and he maintained a low profile throughout World War II. In 1945, he was appointed Prime Minister of Japan by the American occupiers due to his pro-American sentiment. He proposed Article 9 of the Japanese constitution to ensure that Japan would have a pacifist foreign policy. However, he became unpopular with the leftist movement due to his supposed conservative economic policies and family ties to the Mitsubishi interests. After the Liberal Party of Japan won the first postwar elections, Shidehara stepped down, and Shigeru Yoshida became the new Prime Minister. Shidehara died while serving as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1951.